This invention relates to the mechanical field of automatic and progressive speed change gears.
Speed changing gears or transmissions are kinematic mechanisms intended to utilize the power available from a rotating driving shaft by varying two component factors of driving power: force-moment, and angular velocity.
It is presently not possible to entirely exploit motor or engine power because it is not possible to completely utilize the full rotational velocity of the engine drive shaft, whether the associated speed changing gears are continuous or discontinuous.
In fact, with discontinuous speed changing gears, the connection to the vehicle drive wheels requires that the engine speed vary continuously. This is so, because the wheels themselves transmit a resistant couple, whose moment depends on the conditions of the roadway. For example, resistance builds as the vehicle moves up an incline and reduces as the vehicle moves downhill.
The problem is not completely solved by modern continuous speed gears, most of which are supplied with one form or another of a fluid drive gear shift. They are designed in order to equilibriate the eventual difference between the moment of the motor-couple and that of the resistant-couple through centrifugal force of the fluid drive.
In reality, the internal slipping action of such fluid drives involves an enormous waste of motor energy and a greater consumption of fuel. Moreover these types of gear shift drives are heavy, cumbersome, complicated, expensive and cannot be applied indescriminantly to all vehicles.
The problem is solved with the present invention. When used as an automatic speed gear, the present device can be used without a fluid drive gear shift by causing simultaneous rotation and revolution to transmit driving forces progressively from a minimum to maximum velocity and vice versa in a continuous steady progression.
The present invention differs from those in current use in that it utilizes, in a different way, the relation passing between motor-power, traction-force and velocity, allowing a more efficient transformation of thermic and kinetic energy into mechanical output.
If it is possible to obtain a motor-moment corresponding to a resistant-moment of equal value, i.e. a motor-power corresponding in continuous dynamic equilibrium to a resistant-work, it is also possible to considerably reduce the dispersion of thermic energy and to transform it more efficiently into mechanical output. Thus, with the present invention, it will be possible to construct lighter and simpler engines, since the kinetic energy of the gasses act more potently, permitting the engine to run at a constant rate while velocity of the associated vehicle or driven member is liable to vary infinately through a selected range.
The present mechanism may be widely applied to vehicles with internal combustion engines, to machine tools, to electrical generators (exploiting the mass more than the speed of stream, sea currents, winds, etc.) and to many other applications for transmission of mechanical power through rotary motion.
The present mechanism has the virtue of varying the velocity between the driving and driven shaft, without requiring use of preselected gear ratios, fluid drive, gear shifts, centrifugal clutches, and other members in use at the present time.
It also has the property of maintaining constant maximum traction-force of an associated engine, under the same motor power, while permitting the velocity of the vehicle to vary continuously through a wide range.
A primary object of this invention is to provide a kinematic mechanism that can be adapted as a progressive change speed gear which, by eliminating the usual transmission gearing and added members, permits, under the same power, to keep the maximum traction-force of an engine constant while varying the velocity of an associated vehicle or other driven mechanism.
When the present mechanism is used in the automotive industry, engines may be more powerful and more silent. They may consume less fuel, contaminate the atmosphere much less, and have longer life. Additionally, the vibrations, stresses, and abrupt motions throughout the mechanical elements may be considerably reduced and, as a result, the associated vehicle will be more stable on the road.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a kinematic mechanism that will permit a great reduction in angular velocity between a driving and a driven shaft, through a double conical epicyclic train.
Another important object is to provide such a kinematic mechanism that may be adapted as a friction clutch capable of infinitely varying the speed of an output or driven shaft between 0 velocity and a selected maximum velocity from a constant velocity driving shaft.